


Finding Theo

by invisible_slytherin



Series: Thiam Week 2k17 [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Day 1, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, thiam week 2k17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 04:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12246990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisible_slytherin/pseuds/invisible_slytherin
Summary: Theo sighed happily and smiled against Liam’s neck, the feeling of acceptance light around them.Or, the one where Theo is overwhelmed after taking Gabe's pain and Liam goes find him in order to comfort him.





	Finding Theo

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work for the thiam week, hope you enjoy it and hopefully I will be able to finish the other days' fics on time.

Waking up from a nightmare is never a fun thing. Sometimes it makes you gasp and breath heavily, heart racing in your chest, and other times it makes you lay awake in your bed with your eyes wide open, trying to come to terms with the knowledge that what you saw wasn't real, that it was only a product of your mind.

Realizing that the war had come to an end, at least for the time being, had been like waking up from a nightmare they had actually lived. It had left them breathless and wide-eyed, a part of them still waiting for someone to appear behind them and point a gun at their head, red flags still high on their brains.

Liam was still at the hospital, he almost hadn't moved at all since he had told Monroe the hunters had lost; the only two things he had done since then had been letting Melissa take a bullet out of his leg and, after that was done, walking up to Mason and Corey and hugging them, glad that his friends were both fine.

“Are you guys okay?” 

“We are,” Corey nodded while squeezing Mason’s hand.

“They couldn’t catch us, we had something over them,” he smiled softly at his boyfriend. “They never saw us coming. It was awesome, dude!”

“What about you, are you alright?” Corey asked him.

"Yeah, I was shot in the leg, but it's already healing, I could be in a much worse shape," he admitted. "Actually, I would probably be dead if it weren't for Theo."

After saying that, Liam looked around the hospital corridor looking for the boy that had saved his life. There were hunters still unconscious on the floor, Nolan was sitting against a wall, head on his hands, and Melissa was over at where Gabe's body laid on the floor. Looking at them, Liam couldn't help but feel bad for Gabe, he had been his classmate, just one more kid caught up in a war so much bigger than he was, and then Liam was reminded of the way Theo had taken his pain, how he had taken the pain of an enemy, something that was so unexpected coming from Theo. Liam knew that after that no one would be able to deny that he had changed, Theo wasn't the same.

“Where is he?” He asked his friends.

“I don’t know,” Mason shrugged.

“He’s gone,” Nolan said all of a sudden. “I saw him leave.”

“Did he say where he was going?” Liam asked him.

“He-he didn’t talk to me, I just saw him getting inside the elevator,” Nolan explained while fidgeting with his hands.

Liam nodded and made a move to go inside the elevator, ready to leave the hospital and go find Theo as soon as possible. The hospital smelled like blood and death and he didn’t want to spend any more time there, but Corey grabbed his arm before he could go away.

“I need to get out of here and go find him, Corey.”

“I know, but just be careful.”

“I will, I’ll make sure no remaining hunter gets to me.”

“That was not what I was talking about,” he shook his head.

“Then what were you talking about?”

Corey and Mason shared a look before Mason looked at his best friend.

“For all we know, this was the first time he took someone’s pain, hell the guy was a manipulative asshole who didn’t know what caring was,” Mason explained. “What we’re trying to say is that he is probably overwhelmed by what he did.”

“I’ll be careful with what I say,” he nodded. “Are you guys gonna stay here?”

“You can go, boys,” Melissa appeared behind them, a tired look on her face. “The Sheriff and I will take it from here. Go rest.”

The three boys nodded and headed to the elevator with Nolan right behind them; Liam wasn’t the only one wanting to get out of the hospital as fast as possible. 

“What’s that?” Nolan asked and bent down to grab a piece of black fabric that was laying on the elevator floor.

“It’s just a beanie,” Mason shrugged and went back to talking to Corey in quiet whispers.

“It’s not just a beanie,” Liam took it from Nolan’s hand. “It’s Theo’s.”

The elevator plinged, meaning that it had reached the bottom floor and they waited for the doors to open before getting out, Liam still keeping a strong grip on the beanie. Once they were outside Liam tried to catch Theo’s scent right away, wanting to know where he had gone so he could get to him.

“I can’t smell him,” he mumbled.

“What do you mean?” Mason furrowed his eyebrows.

“It’s the city,” Corey said. “I can’t catch anyone’s scent either, it’s like there is a more powerful scent coating Beacon Hills.”

“Is that what’s happening to you?” Nolan asked Liam.

“The only people whose smell I can recognize is you guys and that might be because we’re standing so close,” he sighed. “The smell coating the city is fear and confusion.”

“The city reeks of it,” Corey agreed.

“I will never find Theo without being able to pick up his scent,” Liam groaned, defeated.

“Why don’t you use the beanie?” Mason asked him all of a sudden.

“What?” 

“You can’t pick up his scent because the smell of fear in the city is too overpowering, but if you have something of his, you will probably be able to follow the scent, you will have a reference and-“

“Mason, you’re a genius,” Liam interrupted before Mason could get too excited and start babbling about smells or something like that. “Why didn’t I think of that?” Liam murmured right after, annoyed with himself for not having thought of something that was right in front of him.

He pressed the beanie against his nose and inhaled the scent of Theo’s shampoo, the scent almost as strong as if Theo was there. It was tickling his nostrils and Liam found himself smiling at the way the scent was stronger than the fear around the city, even if only because Liam had his nose buried in it.

“Dude, you look like you’re enjoying yourself a little too much,” Mason chuckled.

“He smells good,” Liam shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “What? It’s true!” He added when he saw Mason raising an eyebrow.

Mason laughed at him and Corey shook his head with an amused smile on his face, even Nolan was smiling softly at their antics.

“I’m gonna take Corey home, do any of you want a ride?”

“Nah, I’m gonna find Theo.” Liam denied.

“I-I’ll accept the ride if you don’t mind,” Nolan said shyly.

“No problem, man, get in the car and let’s just go home and sleep until next week,” Mason unlocked the car.

“Good luck with Theo, Liam,” Corey smirked before getting in the car.

“What is that smirk supposed to mean, Bryant?” Liam yelled after him, but Mason and Nolan were already in the car too and the only thing he heard before the three of them took off was their amused laughter.

“Ok, Theo, let’s find you.”

***

Liam had walked almost half an hour before he could pick up Theo’s scent without his beanie and when that happened he was already deep inside the woods.  
It actually didn’t surprise him that Theo had chosen to go to the woods to be alone, no one would want to be in the woods at this time of the night, much less after everything that had happened.

Liam walked some more time, Theo’s scent now recognizable in the air, Liam was relieved once he could place Theo’s beanie inside his pocket and follow his scent without it. After that, getting to Theo was relatively fast, it only took him about ten minutes.  
When he got to him, he saw Theo sitting on the floor, back resting against a tree trunk and eyes on the sky, a thoughtful expression on his face and a weird mix of emotions coating his scent.

“Are you just gonna stand there looking at me?” He startled Liam.

“I-I came looking for you,” Liam stated, walking slowly to where Theo was sitting.

“I figured,” Theo snickered. 

“Don’t be a dick,” he snapped and sat next to him. “Why did you run away?”

“I didn’t run away,” he rolled his eyes. “I just left the hospital.”

“Why, though? We were all still there, why did you leave?”

Theo sighed.

“Why would I stay? It’s not like my job wasn’t done there. Scott asked me to go there buy him time and help you, I did that.”

“That was all it was? You doing what Scott asked in order to get in the pack?”

“Of course it wasn’t just that,” he whispered.

“Then what was it?”

“I didn’t do it only because Scott asked me to, I did it because I wanted to. I wanted to help the pack and I- I wanted to make sure you didn’t do something stupid and get yourself killed.”

Something tugged at Liam’s heart at the idea that Theo would worry about his well-being.

“You still haven’t told me why you left, though.”

“I just told you,” Theo scoffed.

“No, you didn’t. I know that wasn’t the reason.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because whatever it is, it’s upsetting you.”

“And why would you care?”

“I just do. I don’t want you to be upset, Theo, I want you to be ok and I want to help you be ok, but for that to happen you will have to tell me what’s bothering you. Unless you want me to guess.”

“Like you would ever guess.”

“You would actually be surprised.”

“Shoot,” Theo challenged.

Liam looked at him, eyebrow raised at the challenge, he looked right at Theo’s eyes and knew that he would never talk and admit what was bothering him, so Liam would really have to be the first one to say it out loud.

“You left because taking Gabe’s pain was too overwhelming for you.”

Theo didn’t answer, he didn’t need to, they both knew Liam was right, taking Gabe’s pain was too much to handle for someone who had done the things Theo had done.

“I didn’t think I would ever be able to do it.”

“Had you tried before?”

“I had,” he smiled sadly. “When Mason and I went after Aaron, Mason was hurt and I tried to take his pain, but I wasn’t able to do it.”

“Why weren’t able to take Mason’s pain but you were able to take Gabe’s?”

“Well, your best friend made sure to rub in my face that I can’t take anyone’s pain if I don’t care, I guess that’s why.”

“Are you saying that you care more about Gabe than you care about Mason?” Liam looked at him like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Theo rolled his eyes.

“That was not what I said. I don’t care about Gabe, Liam.”

“Then how did you take his pain?”

“It wasn’t because it was Gabe, it was because of the situation.”

Liam looked at him confused, not understanding what Theo was trying to tell him.”

“Gabe is a kid who got caught up in the middle of this war, he is a kid who could control his decisions, but who had his mind clouded by fear and who was manipulated into believing that bitch Monroe,” he started. “He was just a kid, he didn’t deserve to die that way, betrayed by his own side.”

Liam stayed silent, not knowing how to answer him.

“He reminded me of myself,” Theo added quietly.

“What do you mean,” Liam’s raised his head to look at Theo’s eyes, but he was looking back at the sky.

“He was manipulated by the hunters and by Monroe into joining them, but he could still have said no. I did the same thing with the Dread Doctors, I said yes when I could have said no, but I believed them and liked the idea of power,” he gulped. “He reminded me of myself, except I was worse than he ever was.”

“You also grew up with the Dread Doctor, he didn’t grow up with the hunters, he couldn’t have been as corrupted by them as you were.”

“Don’t try to excuse anything I did, Liam, I don’t deserve it. It’s not excusable what I put your pack through and everything I did to other people before trying to break the pack apart.”

“I’m not excusing it,” Liam shook his head. “I’m only stating facts.”

“Well, don’t.”

“Theo,” he called. “You changed.”

“Liam, drop it.”

“No,” Liam snapped. “I’m not dropping it and you’re gonna listen.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” he scoffed.

“Shut up, Theo!”

To his surprise, Theo actually listened for once and didn’t open his mouth to keep the argument going; he rolled his eyes at Liam, looking annoyed, but he shut up.

“You were an asshole, you were one of the worst people I have met, you were heartless, your humanity buried so deep inside you that it was impossible to see. You went to hell and you deserved whatever happened to you there,” Liam started, words harsh but true. “But when I brought you back, I saw that somehow you had changed. You still bargained to give us information, but that was your self-preservation kicking in and that’s part of who you are. The thing is, the Theo I knew before hell would never have helped us catch a Ghost Rider, he would never have helped me lure them into the hospital to give Scott time, he would never have sacrificed himself for me, he would never have saved me, he would never have stopped me from killing Nolan and Gabe, he would never have saved Mason, he would never have put himself in front of a bullet so it didn’t hit me and he would never have taken Gabe’s pain,” Liam took a deep breath. “But you did. You changed, Theo, you’re different and you’re better. I can see your heart now.”

Theo looked at him shocked, not quite believing that Liam would think of him that way, not knowing what to say, not knowing if he should believe what Liam was saying.

“You wanted a pack and even if Scott doesn’t accept you in his pack and only starts seeing you as an ally, the truth is that he is moving away and that I will stay, I will have my own pack and, Theo, you are already part of it.”

After hearing Liam say that, Theo’s heart clenched happily in his chest, his eyes feeling wet with tears he would never let fall, his lips stretched into a smile and his mind felt more at ease than it had felt for months and years. All he had wanted was a pack and he finally had one, all thanks to Liam who could see the good in him, who could see the change and the heart.

“Thank you, Liam,” he whispered not wanting to say it any louder.

“You don’t have to thank me, Theo,” he shook his head with a chuckle and, much to Theo’s surprise, he hugged him tightly.

Theo sighed happily and smiled against Liam’s neck, the feeling of acceptance light around them. 

And it was all they needed at the moment.


End file.
